Padres, Cardinals Swap Jedd Gyorko For Jon Jay

10:30am: There are still conflicting reports on the exact amount of money changing hands. $7.5MM will be heading from San Diego to St. Louis, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports, with $2.5MM going in 2018 and $5MM in 2019. Meanwhile, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports puts the amount at $7MM (Twitter link) and Scott Miller of Bleacher Report has it at $6.5MM (on Twitter).

9:20am: The Cardinals have officially acquired infielder Jedd Gyorkofrom the Padres in a deal that will see center fielder Jon Jayhead to San Diego. St. Louis will also pick up an as-yet-unreported amount of cash in the trade as well.

Needless to say, that is a surprising development, as St. Louis already has Matt Carpenter and Kolten Wong installed at Gyorko’s usual positions of second and third base. While Gyorko could factor as a platoon partner for the left-handed-hitting Wong, who struggled at times last year, and might conceivably also see time at first base, he’d make for a fairly costly super-utility player.

Gyorko is still owed $33MM under the extension he signed with the Pads early in the 2014 season. That covers four years of salary as well as a $1MM buyout on a $13MM club option for 2020.

While the 27-year-old has struggled at times since earning that deal with a strong rookie campaign, he did turn things around at the plate somewhat in the second half of 2015. Over his final 281 plate appearances on the season, Gyorko hit 13 home runs and slashed .259/.299/.440, a batting line that very nearly matches his 2013 output.

Jay, 30, is a left-handed hitter who is owed $6.225MM in 2016 before qualifying for free agency. He missed much of last season with wrist issues, but figures to see steady playing time for the Pads. What remains to be determined is whether he’ll slot in at a corner role or take up the larger part of a platoon with Melvin Upton in center.

While 2015 was more or less a lost season for Jay, he posted five consecutive seasons of average or better offensive production before it. All told, he carries a .287/.354/.384 career slash line in over 2,500 major league plate appearances. Defensively, Jay had a rough 2013 but has generally rated as an average or better option in center.

At his best, Jay is a 2.5 or 3-WAR player. And he fills a need for San Diego at a reasonable price. The team was obviously not only comfortable with, but somewhat interested in, moving on from Gyorko, given that cash will be involved. Presumably, Cory Spangenberg will step into the primary role at second base, though San Diego has several possibilities and may not be done tweaking its infield. Particularly with the future salaries of Gyorko and Craig Kimbrel now off the books (at least in large part) going forward, the club seems a viable threat to add Ian Desmond or another expensive option.

Jon Morosi of FOX Sports reported the trade on Twitter. ESPN.com’s Keith Law reported Jay’s involvement, also on Twitter. Joel Sherman tweeted that the deal was done.

Seems a bit odd for the cards. Infield depth is great but seems like Wong, given his age and range, is a better bet to hold up for a whole season that Peralta or Carpenter. Also why spend any prospect to get a 2B when outfield, first and the rotation have holes

Jay is nowhere close to a Prospect, he’s the 5th outfielder even without signing Heyward.

Now he’ll get to play every day and really the only confusion is where Gyorko is going to actually play unless they’re going to shift Carpenter to 1st full time (which was his natural position in the minors if I’m not mistaken) and then ship out Matt Adams for a pitcher or a power hitting OF if they can’t land a free agent.

Jay was a free agent after this year and the Cards didn’t have a spot for him, and they were able to get someone locked up for 4 years.
He will be a bat off the bench and fill in at 2nd and 3rd.
The Cards needed to give Wong, Peralta, and Carpenter more days off as they were completely lethargic by the end of the year.

I’m guessing this is part of a bigger move for the Cardinals. Gyroko would be the worst player in the Cardinals IF and gas a bad contract. But then again he is a Padre so he is destined to become an all-star somewhere else.

This is actually a good fit if you think about it. He plays 3rd 2nd and short. He is that utility player that Mo wanted that could play everyday with out a signed area. This is what Mo wanted in Zoberist.

Jay was injury plagued last year and had a terrible year,but before that, he was actually quite good. A lot better than Gyorko. I don’t like this much for St. Louis. Very solid deal for the Padres though.

The Padres picked up a guy coming off a bad wrist (anyone remember Alonso?) whose defense has declined the past two years, hit 210 last year and has little speed or power, but can play cf or lf. Why didn’t they just sign Chris Denorfia for a lot less money…he could stink just as bad at this point. This one stinks like the Jim Edmonds for David Freese deal. Preller must go.

If he’s spelling starters at 3 IF positions he could be starting 3-4 games a week. If he provides decent offensive production in that role, $8 mil a year isn’t that bad – about half of what Zobrist is asking, which seems reasonable, given the differences in talent, production and age.

I mean, the Cardinals gave up an outfielder, the guy that struggled last year with offense due to injury, but why take on that contract? The Cardinals have money to spend this offseason, but I wasnt expecting this.

Move Wong for another piece maybe? Depending what the White Sox do he could be a nice Piece to get Abreu. Probably a long shot but I imagine there is something else in play here. Maybe the plan is to have him play everyday at a different position. Can he play SS. Peralta struggled in the 2 half and Wong was not very good either. Either way solid move if he can get his career back on track to his potential.

Lynn injury, losing Lackey in rotation, Matt Adams not really proving himself as an everyday 1b, and holiday being older and usually on DL once a year thinning out outfield depth were holes I was thinking about. Not major holes but bigger issues than Cards usually have this time of year

The level of hate I always see on this site towards players in their mid 20s who have shown themselves to be good but have had a bad year or two is baffling. Elvis Andrus, Starlin Castro, Julio Teheran, Leonys Martin… it never ends. This guy put up 2.2 rWAR two years ago. He could be a huge bargain at $5m a year, even in a utility role.

Castro has earned some of the negative comments. Two of his last three years have been barely (if that?) replacement level. His contract is not a rookie deal AND he is clogging up a very talented infield in CHI. As you can tell, I’m not a fan.

Gyorko isn’t terrible by any means but the only reason he ever played short was cuz Padres don’t have one. He’s limited to 2b,3b and hasn’t played first but could try, I guess. Also he has decent power but doesn’t hit for good average and has virtually no speed. Much different lineup if he splits some time at third with Carpenten. Not hating on Gyorko, he just not typically the kind of player Cards go after. Kinda perplexing

I don’t see him regularly splitting time with anyone so much as potentially giving each infielder a day off per week. The whole Cards team was gassed at the end of last season, especially Carpenter who was dealing with fatigue issues a few times last year. He’ll hopefully be a poor-man’s Zobrist (and is much cheaper than Zobrist). A little addition by subtraction, too, because Jay was taking playing time from better outfielders. If the Cards resign or replace Heyward, there’s no room for him.

I’d assume he’s in a utility role as his most likely role is giving Carpenter and Wong days off but who bats leadoff on days with a lineup of Molina, Adams,Wong, Peralta, Gyorko, Holiday, Grichuk, Piscotty? And who in that lineup can run?

Was reading elsewhere money was going with Gyorko but didn’t say how much. Gyorko will definitely rebound because all ex Padres thrive in their new homes. Preller was never in on Gyorko and its one more Byrnes contract flushed out. Let’s just hope Mr Jay isn’t Ludwick the sequel..

They have a log jam in the OF. This fixes that problem. They need a utility INF who can spell the starters once a week to keep them fresh. This fixes that problem. Gyorko provides more pop than Jay ever could.

The Cards need a utility INF and they got one for a player would was going to make ~$7MM next year to produce very little and was not necessary with the emergence of Piscotty and Grichuk and Pham.

This is a good move for the Cards. They get a younger controllable player for at least 4 years at a salary that wont kill the budget.

I didn’t quite finish… Jedd Gyorko may hit with more power than Jon Jay but he doesn’t have very good defensive range to fit in the St. Louis infield. Gyorko is right handed hitter whereas Jay is a left handed hitter. It seems like a wasted trade for St Louis.

Jon Jay, however, hits better overall than Gyorko. He has speed on the base path and plays good defense in all three OF positions. Jay is an upgrade over CFs Max Venable and Melvin Upton.

Why? Weird offseason Pena and Gyrko they have two open slots in the rotation and no Heyward. No price, Greinke., the list goes on no Davis no big bat just Gyrko Pena and Moss what happens to Reynolds? Stinking deal for Cards!

The Padres are kicking all the cash minus Jay’s salary. So basically the Cardinals are getting 4-5 years of Gyorko for the exact same price as 1 year of Jay. Seems like a no lose situation. Why can’t the Rockies ever stumble into a deal like this?

Gyorko for whatever reason has played great against Cardinals, so I’m sure this factored into the equation. Neither player was needed on their team’s roster. Jay’s wrist could still be an issue. He never got it going last year, which surely concerned Mo.

I like this from Cards standpoint. He’s controlled thru 2020 potentially, so infield will have backup covered for years to come. Change of scenery.

The Cardinals are ready now they have Gyorko in second base.Its time to trade Kolten Wong.In addition, with Matt Adams , Wong, Two good Prospects they could try to get Freddie Freeman or the cards need to make a trade because I know they are not having two second basemen. Lets go Cardinals.

No doubt Cards need to fix their 1B problem, along with their scoring problems. I think this sets the table to move Wong. Would the Braves take Wong, Piscotty(sell high) and a prospect for Freeman?
Also clears a spot for an OF. I don’t think the Cards will spend big money on a FA outfielder, but might sign a McClouth/Stubbs as a fourth OF behind Holiday, Grichuk and Pham.

So let me see if I understand this correctly. I am thinking this out, so bear with the long post to come.

Preller sent Gyorko and $7 million to the Cardinals.
Last year Gyorko hit .247 with 16 home runs in 421 AB. That places him 5th in the game in home runs at the position, even though he only started 76 games at 2B. 3rd in HR/PA. It is a 23 home run pace for 600 AB. Gyorko is owed $32 million over the next 4 seasons with a $1 million buyout of a $13 million option for 2020.

The Padres received Jon Jay and his $6.225 million contract for 2016 after which he will be a free agent. Jay hit .210 with 1 HR and 0 sb while playing league average defense in 2015

Jay is not as good as either Upton or Jankowski on defense, he has exactly zero speed (0 SB in 2015) while both Upton (65 on scouting scale of 80) and Jankowski (70) have exceptional speed. Jay hit .210 while Jankowski hit .211 with 2 HR in his cup of coffee with the team and Upton hit .251 with 5 HR in his 41 starts. So Jay was worse on defense and in BA, power and speed in 2015 than the 2 CF ahead of him on the depth chart.

The Cardinals save $2.225 million this season in salary, get all of Gyorko’s $6 million salary paid by the Padres for 2017, and $1 million of his salary for 2018. If you include the $2.225 million savings from this year, they basically get Gyorko for free until June of 2018.. This trade also leaves them free to move Kolten Wong in trade for a starting pitcher.

The immediate bottom line? The Padres get a backup CF who plays league average defense for $6.225 million and the Cardinals get a starting 2B with power for $4 million. The Padres now have nearly $22 million invested in CF for 2016.

I did get that wrong. Its $7 million going to Cards along with Gyorko and Jay makes $6.85 million, not $6.225. Cardinals still getting Gyorko and his league best HR numbers at 2B for free until sometime in 2018.

On one side, Jay is actually an above-average defensive CF who consistently posts a .290+ AVG and massive OBP marks when he’s actually healthy, which he was not in 2015.

On the other side, Gyorko is now a very well compensated utility infielder who’s never going to see enough playing time to hit double-digit home runs outside of a major injury to one of the starters, not that he deserves to start. He’s basically another Moss who plays 2B and 3B instead of 1B and OF. The notion that the Cardinals would trade for Gyorko only to trade away Wong is ridiculous, as it would a massive downgrade at a higher price.

IF Adams is healthy—-he still can’t hit lefties. Gyorko hit lefties last year at a .282 clip. Health is a major factor here with the rest of the team. The Cards won 100 games last year with a lot of injuries because they had the backups to come in and pick up the team.

While Gyorko makes a nice utility infielder, he’s certainly an expensive one even with the money coming back in the deal.. Between him, Moss, and Pena, the Cardinals are going to have one of the highest paid benches in baseball next year.